Another Great Day

We had a wonderful evening at the Trails Christmas Party last night.  We saw many of our friends, caught up on gossip, ate too much good, good food, basked by the fire, and laughed a whole lot.  It was especially fun to see all these folks dressed up.  We usually only see them in hiking clothes.  It turned out to be a superb evening and once again we stayed up past our bedtime.

Today was sunny and crisp.  A beautiful day, really.  We jumped out of bed early to go to church.  Well, maybe we didn’t jump, but it was early—very early.  Since we are in travel mode most of the time, we don’t have a regular “church home”.  We thought it would be fun this winter to visit churches we have some special connection with.  One Sunday we went with Gene’s ex-mother-in-law for services then took her to lunch afterward.  That was great.  It gave us an opportunity to spend about 3 hours with “grandmamma” that we would not have gotten to do otherwise.  We worshipped with her in her regular pew and she made the comment that her pew used to be filled with all her lady friends.  Over time they have all passed away and on that particular Sunday, there was no one on the pew but the three of us.  It was a sad comment, especially for us knowing that one of those friends had been Gene’s mother.  On another Sunday we visited at the church I attended when I lived in Donelson as a child.  That particular Sunday the congregation was celebrating its 125 anniversary and there was standing room only.  We sat on the pew with my uncle, two aunts, and a cousin, all of whom still attend there regularly.  That was fun just to be in the crowd.  Today, we visited the church where the minister who married us preaches.  He also married Ansley and Jack.  It was great to see Mike and hear his sermon.  He is another we wouldn’t have gotten to see otherwise.  As we spoke to others in attendance, I was totally surprised to see a lady I had worked with at St. Thomas Hospital for many years. What a small world.

My favorite photo of Mike Ripsk,
 taken at our wedding.

After church we stopped by my parents’ home to deliver address labels for their Christmas cards.  We had taken them to the party last evening, but got caught up in the festivities and forgot to pass on the labels.  After a cup of coffee with them, we headed back home for a relaxing afternoon.  We even watched another movie this evening.  All in all, a very rewarding day.

Tomorrow, we are planning a drive up to Hendersonville.  According to Ansley, there have been many changes over the past couple years.  We want to check it out.